The substantial deployment of fiber optics by telephone and cable television companies has created an infrastructure capable of transmitting billions of bits of data per second through these networks. Advancements in digital video compression technologies further make it practical to digitize and send high-quality full motion video in addition to audio, text and graphics over these networks.
The confluence of digital signal processing, microelectronics and electro-optic technologies will permit the deployment of interactive switched digital broadband networks and the distribution of two-way, real-time, interactive programming and services. As the cost of data storage and processing is reduced, these networks will become increasingly cost effective, providing unlimited opportunities for businesses to develop new products and services and to deliver their current offerings more efficiently.
As the Internet has emerged into a global marketplace over the past decade, numerous companies have attempted to advertise and sell their respective products using the Internet and, in particular, the World Wide Web. This marketing usually falls into one of two categories, either placing “banner advertisements” on a particular web page or using an entire web page or web site as an advertisement.
A banner ad is a small advertisement placed on, but discrete from the content of, a web page. Typically, these ads are clickable, meaning they provide a hypertext link to the page being advertised. Banner ads are advantageous because they can be placed on web pages with a large number of visitors or on web pages with a particular type of visitor. However, banner ads are typically static and unsophisticated and, thus, go unnoticed. Additionally, when noticed, banner ads are often seen as disruptive and unwanted because they are not integrated with the web page content.
The second category of advertising includes web pages or even entire web sites that serve as advertisements. An example of this type of online advertising is the catalog web site. These sites are very similar to an actual catalog, offering pictures, descriptions and prices for the goods or services along with a means for purchasing the goods or services. While this type of advertising offers the advantage of focusing the visitor's attention on the advertising content, the sites are usually only accessed by visitors intentionally looking for specific information about the goods or services advertised on the web page. Thus, the number of visitors tends to be low, and these visitors are rarely potential new customers. Instead, the web site merely services existing customers.
Therefore, a strong need exists for a method of advertising that can be integrated with the content of a high traffic web site without being intrusive and that can increase sales by attracting new potential customers. A further need exists for methods of online advertising that involve the consumer and that require real-time consumer input and interaction, therefore enhancing the user's experience with the product or service being advertised.